Why Some Pilots Fly with a Rubber Duck (Yes, Really)
- Todd Skaggs
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
Published: 06 February 2026
Written by: Todd Skaggs
In an industry defined by checklists, procedures, and precision, the idea of a pilot flying with a rubber duck sounds like a joke.
It is not.
In fact, the humble rubber duck has quietly earned a place in cockpits, engineering offices, and technical environments across aviation. Not as a mascot, not as a superstition, but as a thinking tool.
And it works.
The origin of the rubber duck
The practice comes from software engineering, where it is known as “rubber duck debugging”. The idea is simple. When faced with a complex problem, you explain it out loud to a rubber duck, step by step, as if the duck were a colleague.
Somewhere along the explanation, the solution usually reveals itself.
No answers come from the duck. The value lies in forcing structured thinking, slowing the mind, and exposing assumptions that were invisible when the problem stayed internal.
Aviation, perhaps unsurprisingly, found this idea useful.
Why this makes sense in aviation
Pilots and engineers operate in environments where decisions are rarely made in isolation. Problems are analysed, verbalised, cross-checked, and confirmed. Talking through an issue is already embedded in aviation culture.
The rubber duck simply formalises something professionals already do.
When troubleshooting an abnormal indication, a system behaviour that feels “off”, or a procedural edge case, verbal explanation forces clarity. It highlights gaps, contradictions, and missed steps.
In other words, the duck does not solve the problem. The process does.
This is not as strange as it sounds
Aviation already embraces tools that look unusual to outsiders.
Crews point at switches they already know the location of. Engineers read procedures aloud they have memorised. Controllers repeat clearances that were perfectly clear the first time.
None of this is redundant. It is deliberate.
The rubber duck fits neatly into this philosophy. It is an external anchor for disciplined thinking in environments where overconfidence is far more dangerous than hesitation.
Why pilots keep them
Some pilots use a rubber duck during training. Others keep one in their flight bag as a quiet reminder to slow down and talk the problem through. Engineers have been known to keep them on desks during fault-finding sessions.
It is not superstition. It is cognitive discipline, disguised as humour.
And in an industry where complacency is the real enemy, anything that encourages structured thought has a place.
What this says about aviation culture
The fact that a rubber duck can exist in a cockpit without undermining professionalism says something important about aviation.
The industry is serious about safety, but not rigid about thinking. It understands that humans solve complex problems best when they slow down, verbalise, and challenge their own assumptions.
Sometimes that means talking to a colleague. Sometimes it means talking to a checklist. And sometimes, apparently, it means talking to a small yellow duck.
If it works, aviation will use it.
And that may be the strangest thing of all.
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Author: Todd Skaggs Aviation staffing and consultancy insights LinkedIn
